In logistics that carry goods, goods flow across various places and businesses from upstream to reaching consumers. Among them, the work called “Pre-Shipment Inspection” is emphasized.
What is Pre-Shipment Inspection?
What kind of business is pre-shipment inspection service? In simply, Pre-Shipment Inspection means inspecting the products’ quality and package before shipping. It is a term used in various industries, and its business content varies from industry to industry.
For example, “inspection” in factory processing means checking the products made at the factory for defects. There are methods such as visually and manually sorting the products flowing on the conveyor belt, and using a machine to check them.
Pre-Shipment Inspection in logistics means that the recipient of the product checks whether the quality, quantity, and type of the product have arrived correctly. We may also perform similar inspections when shipping products.
Importance of Pre-Shipment Inspection
It is a job called inspection that seems to be important somehow, but what role and importance are there specifically?
Why Do Pre-Shipment Inspection for Products?
If you do not inspect it at the time of receipt, you will not know whether the number of goods received is on schedule. It is still good if the actual number is more than the planned number, but if it is small, you will notice that the number is insufficient only at the time of issue. In that case, there is a possibility that it may cause trouble to customers due to out-of-stock.
In addition, even if the type of product is different or damaged at the time of receipt, if you do not inspect at the time of receipt, it will lead to the issue of defective products.
In this way, in logistics, if the quality inspection is not performed, there is a possibility that it may cause trouble to those in the later process. Therefore, it is necessary to check whether the right thing has arrived properly between logistics.
What are the Benefits of Inspecting Products Before Shipping?
So what are the specific benefits of Pre-Shipment Inspection?
- Prevention of Erroneous Shipment
No matter how properly the storage and shipping work is done, if the goods received are wrong in the first place, erroneous shipping will occur. By inspecting the products at the time of warehousing, it is possible to prevent such erroneous shipments and improve the quality of distribution.
- Understanding Delivery Mistakes
In the event of an erroneous shipment, out of stock, or loss, you need to find out where the problem occurred in the first place. One item is missing. If you encounter any problems such as, you may not have enough at the warehousing stage in the first place.
By checking whether the product content and quantity are as planned at the time of warehousing, it is possible to promptly notify the supplier etc. when there is a problem, which leads to clarifying the responsibility.
Major Issues in Pre-Shipment Inspection
We have explained the importance of “Pre-Shipment Inspection” work so far, actually inspection is a simple task, but it is not an easy task. What is the difficulty of Pre-Shipment Inspection work? Here are some of the challenges:
- Subject to labor costs
First of all, inspection requires inspection personnel to do the work, which will incur time and labor costs. If you want to improve the accuracy of the inspection, you need to check twice, so there is no end. So the first problem is that this method requires labor and labor costs.
- Manual mistakes occur
In addition, human errors always occur when inspecting products manually or visually. It is almost impossible to make zero mistakes. Errors may also occur when entering the management ledger.
- Automation costs money
As a method to solve the problems caused by using people as described above, there is a method of working and managing with a machine using a bar code and a barcode scanner. By performing inspections using a scanner, it is possible to reduce mistakes that people miss, and to increase the inspection speed in the first place. However, in order to achieve this, capital investment may be required. In addition, depending on the product, it may be necessary to change the size, position, and type of barcode, and the type of reader may increase. While there are advantages such as reducing labor costs due to automation in this way, there is also the problem of initial investment.
Benefits of Outsourcing Pre-Shipment Inspection Service
Outsourcing of Pre-Shipment Inspection work is one way to solve the above problems. In addition, by outsourcing each logistics processing process, pre-Shipment inspection work can also be outsourced, has the following merits.
- Reduction of inspection mistakes
Logistics processors who also perform inspection work are professionals on the road. If you want to reduce inspection mistakes in-house, you need to create a manual and educate the person in charge, but if you outsource it, you do not need to do so. In addition, it is possible to reduce inspection mistakes because we know where mistakes occur.
- Reduction of fixed costs
When inspecting in-house, it is necessary to secure personnel according to the time when the quantity is large. The busy season is good, but in the off-season, there is a problem that there are surplus personnel and extra labor costs are incurred. By outsourcing, when the quantity is large, the number of personnel can be allocated, and when the quantity is small, the number of personnel can be reduced, so there is no need to worry about extra costs.
- No need for capital investment
If you want to inspect using a barcode and a scanner, you need to purchase equipment and machinery. However, by outsourcing, you can use the machines owned by the outsourcer, so you can reduce the initial investment. By outsourcing in this way, it is possible to mainly obtain the benefits of cost reduction.
Main Services of Our Pre-Shipment Inspection
So what kind of services do companies that are actually inspecting? We will introduce our main Pre-Shipment Inspection services.
- Confirmation of dirt and scratches
If there are no dirt or scratches in the product, it will check by visual appearance and tentacles.
- Confirmation of foreign matter contamination
It will check whether there are any different products or garbage in the product.
- Inspect functionality
For example, it will check the function such as whether the fastener of a machine or tool firmly.
- Measuring
Our CMM service will check whether the delivered product is the size as desired. In this way, there are services that not only check the number and type, but also check and inspect various contents.
Conclusion
Pre-Shipment Inspection is one of the most important tasks to maintain product quality. In order to inspect the product at an appropriate cost, it is a good idea to optimize with a view to outsourcing and other methods.